- Ripple completes the Hidden Road deal and launches Ripple Prime for global institutional services.
- Ripple Prime connects digital assets with traditional finance for institutional investors.
- Ripple expands its reach with new acquisitions and boosts use of its RLUSD stablecoin.
Ripple has finalized its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, completing a deal first announced in the first half of 2025. The acquired prime brokerage firm has now been renamed Ripple Prime.
This development positions Ripple as the first cryptocurrency company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime brokerage platform. The company confirmed that integration between Ripple and Hidden Road will continue over the coming months.
New Prime Brokerage Platform
Ripple Prime will provide institutional clients with access to settlement, custody, trading, and financing services. It will also link digital assets with traditional finance products, including foreign exchange, fixed income, and derivatives.
Ripple will utilize the current crypto infrastructure to reinforce the services of Ripple Prime with its experience in custody, payment, and stablecoins. The platform will help to simplify institutional access to various asset classes and improve liquidity and performance across the financial markets.
Integration and Leadership
Hidden Road founder and CEO Marc Asch will collaborate closely with Ripple’s leadership team, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The companies are expected to align their operations and integrate their systems to deliver unified services to institutional investors.
Ripple’s infrastructure, supported by its native digital asset XRP, will play a central role in the brokerage’s settlement and liquidity operations. Ripple Prime also plans to use blockchain capabilities to improve transaction efficiency and reduce operational costs.
Broader Expansion Strategy
The completion of the Hidden Road deal follows a series of major acquisitions by Ripple over the past two years. The company recently acquired GTreasury , a treasury management provider, for $1 billion. In August 2025, it added stablecoin payments platform Rail to its portfolio. Earlier deals included Standard Custody in June 2024 and Metaco in May 2023. These acquisitions indicate Ripple’s continued expansion into institutional financial services.
Ripple Prime is expected to play a key role in driving the adoption of Ripple USD (RLUSD), the firm’s U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin launched in late 2024. RLUSD already functions as collateral in some brokerage products and is seeing increased institutional use. Bluechip recently ranked RLUSD as a top-rated stablecoin, citing its strong stability, governance, and asset backing. Ripple has also collaborated with the Bank of New York Mellon, which is the major reserve custodian of RLUSD.
The introduction of Ripple Prime is seen by industry participants as a move towards increased integration between conventional finance and digital assets. The constant growth of the company is an indicator of its further institutional development in the changing digital finance ecosystem.
